Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is mostly famous as a backpacker haven, a real party town and the Asian version of Ibiza. This is my first stop on my short trip through Laos and Vietnam. After having spent the evening on the day we arrive mostly relaxing at a restaurant drinking BeerLao, me and my German neighbor decide to try out the infamous tubing. We eat breakfast at a hotel by the riverside enjoying a spectacular view of the Vang Vieng scenery of rocky tall tall mountains. We split up, he to do some research and I to do some shopping. I buy a waterproof bag in which I can have my money and camera during the day. At 12.30 we meet up at the tubing-center, where we rent a tube, basically a floating tractor wheel, and then we tourists are packed into a tuk-tuk that drives us up the river. In the tuk-tuk we meet two other Germans and we decide to stick together during the day. The the tubing begins. Not by nicely going down the river, but first we spend some time at a bar. When tubing you float down the river an by the riverside there are several bars located where the staff throw ropes to you and get you "safely" to the bar. Well, the first bar we go to we actually visit before we go into the water. There we are welcomed by a shot of local Lao whiskey. Later we meet two other Germans and we become a German group+a swede. I will not go into detail about the afternoon, but after hours of jumping into the water, playing football with the locals, swings, water slides and beer we safely arrive back to the tubing-center where we return our tubes. Apparently it is not rare that people hurt themselves during this activity. sometimes people even die. So far I have heard different death-numbers, from 10-40 people this year. The next day I decide to skip the tubing and find something more relaxed to do. I realize once is enough. After breakfast I go by tuk-tuk to the "Blue Lagoon" at the foot of one of the mountains surrounding Vang Vieng. The trip is about half an hour and one the way we pass though several villages filled with playing children and cows roaming the road. The "lagoon" is beautiful, the water is perfect and the weather is just hot enough. I meet a lot of people there who had been tubing yesterday as well and we all agree that this is the perfect hangover-activity getaway.